Turkey seeks extradition from Germany of ‘top coup fugitive’

ISTANBUL: Turkey is to ask German authorities to extradite a top suspect in last year’s failed coup who still remains at large, state media said on Tuesday. A request for Adil Oksuz to be extradited from Germany has been prepared following a demand from an Ankara criminal court, the Anadolu news agency said. Berlin has never confirmed if Oksuz is in the country, but Turkey in August asked the German government to formally investigate reported sightings of him. Ankara blames the doomed July 15, 2016, coup attempt to oust President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on US-based Islamic preacher Fethullah Gulen, and has implemented a ruthless crackdown on his suspected supporters. Turkey has pressed Washington — so far without success — to extradite Gulen, who denies the allegations, from his Pennsylvania compound to face trial in Turkey. But the second most wanted suspect is Oksuz, a theology lecturer whom Turkish officials accuse of being the so-called “imam” of the plot by coordinating actions on the ground in Turkey with Gulen.